Having made his Tottenham debut at 17, Phil Ifil had had only two more Premiership outings when he came on three-month loan to Championship Southampton. Five weeks into a solid run of appearances at right-back, Phil discussed with Bob Brunskell, in the matchday programme, not only his initial achievements – with notable assists already to his name – but also his opportunities to learn from such former right-backs as manager George Burley and coach Jason Dodd.

That ultimately counted for little, though, as he duly returned to White Hart Lane, whence he was sold, in the January window, to Colchester, for whom he was ever-present as they slid down to League One. After two more seasons with them, he moved within that division to Dagenham & Redbridge. In November 2010, he was back at St Mary’s for the first-ever meeting between the Daggers and the Saints. But following his side’s 4-0 defeat, he hardly played for them again before dropping down to the Blue Square Premier at Kettering. His older brother, Jerel, played for Watford, Swindon and, more recently, Aberdeen.